Polestar is an ambitious brand. It has to be. It’s competing directly with Tesla - which, love it or loathe it, is the big disrupter and constantly re-evaluating how car companies should operate. But Polestar is also up against the traditional manufacturers, too, which are all trying to break the near-monopoly that Tesla has carved out for itself in the EV market.
So it’s here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with two new models (plus the limited edition of the 476hp Polestar 2 BST edition 270) that show its future direction as a sporting electric brand. The Polestar O2 concept is on show for the first time outside of Sweden. In the raw it’s a pretty stunning-looking convertible EV with some natty bits, like an autonomous drone that launches from a slot in its rear deck. (Yep, you read that right.) The idea is you’ll be able to video yourself driving it with the hood down and load the footage to social media using the infotainment system. Yeah, well it’s a concept, and they’re all about floating ideas, good and bad. But according to Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar’s CEO, the company doesn’t do pointless concepts that have no basis in future production, so expect a convertible to come that’ll look something like the O2. Just don’t bank on it having a drone.
The more imminent proposition is the Polestar 5, which is on show for the first time ever. Its maker has released some numbers for the 5 at last, and they’re big ones: up to 884hp and a targeted 664lb ft of torque from its dual-motor set-up. It's also have 800-volt charging architecture. See, Tesla is locked firmly in its sights. The styling also proves the theory that Polestar’s concepts become reality, because the prototype that’s heading up the hill looks very much like the 2020 Precept concept, from what we can make out under the camouflage. The shark nose front end and twin-blade headlights are Polestar’s new signature elements that differentiate the brand from Volvos – something that is the overriding theme of my discussions with everyone I talk to from the company. They very much want to move away from the parts bin scenario.
The obvious differences between the 5 and the Precept are its conventional, rather than suicide rear doors, the less extreme creases around the sills and bottom of the doors, regular door mirrors (although presumably cameras will be available as an option at least) - and that’s about it. Maximilian Missoni, Polestar’s Head of Design, says that “This car [the 5] is setting up the future of Polestar and as a design language from here onward. The aim is always to do something that is far enough out there to be inspiring, but at the same time realistic enough that you don’t disappoint when the real thing hits the road.” We’d say he’s achieved that goal.
One of the design challenges was keeping the car low, like a sports car. It’s easier to do this with an ICE car, because you don’t need to accommodate a large block of batteries along the floor. In an EV obviously you do. Also, the role of aerodynamics – cutting drag to improve range – becomes so much more important, so a lot of time has been spent perfecting the car’s sleek form in the wind tunnel.
The chassis is interesting, too. Both the O2 concept and 5 share the same underpinnings, which is Polestar’s first bespoke EV architecture. I asked what it’s called, but apparently it doesn’t have a name yet. It’s definitely nothing to do with Volvo’s SPA 2 platform, though. It’s unique to Polestar and the product of its engineering team based in the UK – at MIRA and Coventry. Why the UK? Well, Jonathan Goodman, global comms director, said that’s “because of the engineering culture, can do attitude and the pool of talent all the way up the M40 corridor, which you wouldn’t get anywhere else in the world.” The propulsion side is developed in Sweden, while the software, the 12-volt systems and the user interface are a product of teams on both sides of the North Sea.
One of those UK talents is Steve Swift, vehicle engineering director. I asked him why this isn’t a jointly developed platform with Volvo – wouldn’t that make sense? “The platform doesn’t work for a volume brand like Volvo. They aren’t going to produce an 800hp sports car, are they?” Well, I suppose not. There may be sharing on other elements, though, like autonomous tech, motors, battery design and software. This doesn’t mean necessarily a motor from a Volvo will find its way into a Polestar or vice versa, but the intellectual property behind it will.
The platform is a mix of aluminium sections. There are cast elements, for example in the suspension turrets. There’s also cold formed aluminium for less stressed components, such as the floor panels, and hot formed, quenched aluminium for the main structure. That process locks in the alloy’s grain structure and retains strength, but lets the engineers create intricate pressings. The structure is bonded rather than spot welded, which is lighter because you’re not adding metal to compensate for the weakness of welds, and also stronger in most scenarios because more surface area is attached along the joints.
That last point makes it very torsionally stiff. Swift says it’s not far off the twisting strength of a carbon tub, and while he wouldn’t give me a figure to back that up, he said “it’s very competitive for a long car.” And the 5 is a long car, even though that might not come across in the pictures. Something around five metres long, which gives you a clue as to which area of the market it’s aimed at. Think of it as a four-door coupe in the mould of the Porsche Panamera – a car with generous rear-seat accommodation – with greater head and legroom than a Taycan. The 5's rear head and legroom come from pushing the rear structure back behind the rear passengers' heads, with the glass roof above them not only creating headroom but also flooding the interior with light. This design has other advantages: more generous boot space and allowing for a higher, more natural rear seating position. As well as the roominess of a Panamera, the 5 is targeting a similarly dynamic drive; moreover, the Porsche is the price point that the Polestar 5 is potentially aiming for.
Polestar is very realistic about where it stands at the moment. Swift noted, quite honestly, “In terms of motor, battery and software tech, we’ve got a long way to catch up with Tesla. But I don’t think we have much to learn from Tesla in how to build a car.” Well, it has two years to catch up on the former and to cement its confidence in the latter. It's also targeting an operating profit for the first time in 2024, as well as sales of 290,000 by 2025. Bold. But there's no faulting its ambition so far.
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